Hedge Fund Strategy – Motif Investing Raises $25 Million

New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Motif Investing, the company that pioneered ideas-based stock investing, has raised an additional $25 million in financing from a group of investors including Goldman Sachs & Co. and existing Motif investors Foundation Capital, hedge funds Ignition Partners and Norwest Venture Partners.

Darren Cohen, Managing Director of Principal Strategic Investments at Goldman, is joining Motif’s board as an observer. This coupled with the investment is expected to deepen the firm’s relationship with Motif.

“We are thrilled Goldman Sachs has decided to invest in our vision of bringing low-cost, transparent, theme-based investing to a broader audience,” said Hardeep Walia, chief executive and co-founder of Motif. “Since our launch last year, we have consistently added new features to our service, and it is great to have access to the deep expertise of Goldman Sachs to help us bring more value to our customers in the future.” “We are pleased to be an investor in Motif, a company that has taken an innovative approach to traditional investing,” said Cohen.

Motif allows customers to invest online in theme-based portfolios of stocks, bonds and ETFs called motifs. Many of the motifs—which focus on themes as diverse as tablet computing, healthy foods and global inflation—are assembled by Motif’s in-house research team and cost $9.95 to purchase. Earlier this year, Motif added a new feature allowing individuals, brands and registered investment advisers to build their own motifs from scratch. Later this year, Motif will allow other customers to discover and buy these “BYO” motifs on its site, enabling the motifs’ creators to market their own investment ideas and receive compensation through a royalty program.